Phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens’s novels
This paper addresses relations between lexico-grammatical patterns and texts. Our focus is on a specific linguistic unit, the ‘suspended quotation’ (or ‘suspension’), which has received particular attention in Dickens studies. The suspended quotation refers to an interruption of a fictional characte...
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| Format: | Article |
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John Benjamins Publishing
2013
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3151/ |
| _version_ | 1848790964079951872 |
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| author | Mahlberg, Michaela Smith, Catherine Preston, Simon |
| author_facet | Mahlberg, Michaela Smith, Catherine Preston, Simon |
| author_sort | Mahlberg, Michaela |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper addresses relations between lexico-grammatical patterns and texts. Our focus is on a specific linguistic unit, the ‘suspended quotation’ (or ‘suspension’), which has received particular attention in Dickens studies. The suspended quotation refers to an interruption of a fictional character’s speech by the narrator with a sequence of at least five words. We show how corpus linguistic methods can help to systematically study suspensions in a corpus of Dickens’s novels: we investigate relationships between patterns of body language presentation and suspensions; we consider the distribution of suspensions across novels; and we illustrate how patterns in suspensions relate to meanings of reporting verbs. Overall, we argue that suspensions are discernible units that contribute to meaningful patterns in narrative prose. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:20:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-3151 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:20:58Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | John Benjamins Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-31512020-05-04T16:34:49Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3151/ Phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens’s novels Mahlberg, Michaela Smith, Catherine Preston, Simon This paper addresses relations between lexico-grammatical patterns and texts. Our focus is on a specific linguistic unit, the ‘suspended quotation’ (or ‘suspension’), which has received particular attention in Dickens studies. The suspended quotation refers to an interruption of a fictional character’s speech by the narrator with a sequence of at least five words. We show how corpus linguistic methods can help to systematically study suspensions in a corpus of Dickens’s novels: we investigate relationships between patterns of body language presentation and suspensions; we consider the distribution of suspensions across novels; and we illustrate how patterns in suspensions relate to meanings of reporting verbs. Overall, we argue that suspensions are discernible units that contribute to meaningful patterns in narrative prose. John Benjamins Publishing 2013-01-01 Article PeerReviewed Mahlberg, Michaela, Smith, Catherine and Preston, Simon (2013) Phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens’s novels. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 18 (1). pp. 35-56. ISSN 1384-6655 Dickens; body language presentation; reporting verbs; suspended quotation; suspension annotation http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/jbp/ijcl/2013/00000018/00000001/art00003?token=00591b8ab40da4975e37b76504c48663c707b234a6c5f7a514d3b6a332b257d7241255e4e6b6331944ce39bb5 doi:10.1075/ijcl.18.1.05mah doi:10.1075/ijcl.18.1.05mah |
| spellingShingle | Dickens; body language presentation; reporting verbs; suspended quotation; suspension annotation Mahlberg, Michaela Smith, Catherine Preston, Simon Phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens’s novels |
| title | Phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens’s novels |
| title_full | Phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens’s novels |
| title_fullStr | Phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens’s novels |
| title_full_unstemmed | Phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens’s novels |
| title_short | Phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens’s novels |
| title_sort | phrases in literary contexts: patterns and distributions of suspensions in dickens’s novels |
| topic | Dickens; body language presentation; reporting verbs; suspended quotation; suspension annotation |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3151/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3151/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3151/ |